New Shoes!

My family and I went to London today for some good old fashioned Christmas fun. My Dad was awesome and bought me these trainers (sneakers if you're American) of the Reebok variety.

I love them.

I love him.

Shoes are clearly the way to my heart.

(and yes, I know the photo is sideways, deal with it)

Merry Christmas!!!

Holidays

Gah!
I've never been very good at holidays. I don't like being lifted out of my routine to which my body ad mind has become quite contempt to be bombarded with lots of television, food and family all at once.
Don't get me wrong, I love seeing family and friends again. But I don't like reajusting to life back at home.

God, if this is too much a shock to the system then how the hell am I going to survive moving to China next September?! I'm gonna be fucked!

I had also promised myself that I would work hard over this break cuz I have exams in mid-January. This has proven less than sucessful. I have done some work but not nearly enough revision as I had wanted. To be fair once Christmas finishes I should be able to knuckle down. I just don't want to screw these up. I have a chance of doing really well if I apply myself. Fingers crossed.

With Christmas I am genuinly looking forward to the giving and the reaction of people getting the presents I have got them than the ones I am going to recieve. Mainly because I know my presents arn't going to be what they used to be, maybe also because I am getting older and more miserable. :P

I am going to Bristol for Christmas and we'll be traveling down Christmas Day. Hoping for empty roads. We go there every other year cuz that's where my mum's side of the family is from. It's fun. I am hoping to be getting some footage and annoy people with my camera mucho this festive season.

This is all
I am tired. Insomnia ftw!

hugs
<3

I am Weak

I went into town today with the expressed desire to just buy myself some lunch and then leave. I ended up paying way too much for my lunch and, after accidentally falling into HMV, two albums and a piece of Gorillaz artwork.

I am weak.

To be fair, the CDs were the Gorillaz 'Demon Days' for £4 and a double disc set of Jeff Buckley's 'Grace' and 'Mystery White Boy' for £6. I am currently listening to Grace and orgasming all over the place.

I subsequently saw some amazing limited edition Gorillaz art work on my way out but said to myself, 'No Jazza! Think of the starving children in Africa!'

I of coarse left the shop, when to the ATM, got out the £5 I needed to buy it, re-entered HMV and purchased it.

But come on! It was marked down to a Fiver from £18! and with a student discount and lower VAT it was a bargain.
Plus it's effin beautiful!


P.S. Can you tell I have figured out how to use the picture function on my video camera now. :P

Just Plain Gross

This is the communal area where I live. We are a flat of blokes and this is what has resulted in not having a stern woman figure telling us we are dirty and disgusting:


I just wish I had some slef respect... or that I lived with a female... Not that I am being sexist and saying that I would make a girl flatmate clean up. Cuz I wouldn't. If she wanted I would help!

-EDIT- and today we failed an inspection, surprise surprise.

Happy Teacher Time

So, I know I usually use this blog in quite an emo fashion, to moan and complain, but today I thought I would express some happiness. I taught one of my English classes yesterday and it was an effin ball, I had genuinly forgotten how much I had missed teaching, planning and being in front of a class and seeing them get it, it's the greatest feeling. Of corse there are those that don't want to work, that will get annoyed when I come over to see how they are getting on (one of them tried to hide in her bag... you're 13 for Christ's sake!) but all in all it was a really sucessful class.

Also, because my group are all pre pubescent girls I got Christmas cards, one of them had forgotten my name (the call me Mr. Jazza <3) and so put in the card, "To our 'handsome' teacher." Not sure why she chose to put handsome on quotation marks but I still thought it was really cute.
Good news in terms of teaching as well; one of the teachers for the ESOL classes (which are the ones they run for adults) can't teach on Sunday so they have asked me to stand in and they're going to pay me and everything! I am proper nervous though, it's a three hour class and the longest I have taught before now is only an hour and a half, but it should be good experience, I'll learn alot from it.

In other news I have started planning a story that I have had in my head for donkey's. It's the first time I have actually put down any thought I have had about anything story related, mainly because I hate writing, I have to do paragraphs in short bursts and then have a cup of tea or something.
So far I think the best way to describe it is a cross between 1984, Firefly, Tank Girl and Terry Pratchet with a little bit of Elektra Natchios thrown in. I'm not sure what the outcome of it will be, part of me likes the idea of graphic novel, part of me likes anime, part of me like plain old normal book novel. However, the outcome will probably be nothing.

Also, I am doing something very risky here, this year, my theme for Christmas presents is mugs (which i will then customise for each person), and I am just over half way finishing most of them. I am pretty sure most of the people affected by these presents do not read this blog, and even if they do they won't be able to tell who's is who, or the detail, so here is a pic of them, I am quite proud:

Old Jazza - New Jazza

Warning, this is very long and even I am not too sure what it is about.

Welcome to Jazza's train of thought.

*WARNING* emo levels are high

I am currently using any excuse under the sun to distract myself from a Chinese essay I am currently about 2/3 of the way through. It's my last chance to get a proper decent mark on for my Chinese writing module in that is that last of three chances I get (they take the highest mark you get over the term and the last two have been distinctly average) but I'm just not feeling it. Another low 2-1 me thinks.

I am currently thinking of the vlog I did just yesterday and am content. I was genuinely nervous about it when I was recording, feeling like I was very out of practice, but it turned out well. I joked about it but it was what I originally did on YouTube and it was nice to go visit my roots again.

A consequence to doing a vlog after such a long time was that a lot of my very old vlogs came up in the description and good god they were cringe worthy. I was, quite frankly, a great big self promotional whore. As well as being distinctly average at editing. I watched one specific one in which I was over the moon about reaching 90 subscribers, which in retrospect is a very arbitrary number to be so happy about. I say how happy I am and then proceed to whore myself for a large majority of the video saying why people should subscribe to me and tell as many people as they can that I exist. And this was me just over a year ago.

I can't stand people who do that, just whore themselves, focusing on the subscriber and views numbers rather than their content and the people behind the screen names that are gracious enough to comment. I even deliberately never ask people to subscribe because I think it's rude. Have I really changed that much in 14 months?

Saying it like that 14 month is a reasonably long time. I mean, a baby could have been conceived and born just over one and a half times by then! Looking back this year, with Uni, YouTube, teaching and holding down God knows how many jobs over the summer just gone must have changed me.

I feel older now... which is a stupid thing to say because I am. But I feel like I can hold my own in a debate, a conversation with practically anyone whether it be my family, my subscribers or a room full of the top people from the News of the World (I never told you about that... woops).

I used to be a bit of a blunder. People knew that I was kinda smart in that I had a brain between my ears but I was always seen as a bit dopey, a bit of a screw ball. But now I have this voice that people listen too and value as a genuine opinion. It's nice. I guess that's why I was apprehensive about vlogging again, I didn't want to go back to being the hyper, goofy one.

I was invited to a Christmas do that my old school does every year for ex-students and I was elated that I wouldn't have to go due to the fact my term finishes too late because I didn't want to just be Jazza again. The Jazza in the heads of all the people I used to know at school is no where near the Jazza that exists now.

But I guess I'm allowed to be goofy-me. The majority of people who commented on my latest vlog told me that I didn't need a new channel because they like that I'm not just this robot that talks about news like a TV anchor. I think I should embrace old Jazza more. But no matter what anyone says, I am not going to that Christmas party.

Keep Safe
Jaz

*EDIT* So, from essays, to being a whore, to being goofy, to being listened to, to Christmas parties... My mental process is... how do the French say?
Merde

A Vlog

In which I asked the peeps who watch me whether I should have a separate channel for vlogs... to which the resounded, 'NO!'

I was really nervous about posting this, it has been a long time since I made a vlog and I felt a bit silly.


It also featured two Chinese pastries; one shaped like a cat, the other like a boob.

Hacked

I always wondered how it feels to be hacked, seeing the likes of Jaydee, the 5AGirls and sxephil go through it gets the mind thinking. Now it happened to me, and it's bloody hilarious!

Firstly I practically gave them my password on a silver platter. I got a message from the fiveawesomeguys channel posing as Charlie saying that they wanted to upload a promotional video on my channel. I of coarse said yes and proceeded to give them my password... yes, I know, je suis thick as shit!

I remember thinking, this is weird, doesn't seem like something Charlie and they boys would do, but no, my brain was too busy concentrating on the mugs I was painting. More on them later.

the channel posing as the guys btw was fiveawseomeguys, with the s and e switched round. They clearly knew that I am dyslexic and don't notice letter order problems. :P

So now they have control of my channel, of the number one reporter in the UK (I still don't count Jaydee). In their position what would you do? upload a video promoting yourself? Delete all the videos? Leave offensive comments on other people's walls? Change the colour of the home page, change the profile description to say my name is Mr. HorneyBush and transform the channel to Guru?
Well apparently they thought the latter would cause the most destruction... I'm thinking they weren't planning on this little gimmick working and me handing over the password so easily. To be fair until now even I didn't think I would ever be that stupid, shows ya huh?!

All in all I am just sitting back and enjoying watching what they are doing and tinkering with. It's all quite amusing. I just want my channel back so I can watch my subscriptions and change myself back to reporter... I think I may keep my name as Mr. HorneyBush.

When all is said and done, I know YouTube can fix whatever they try and do.

Drop by my channel in the next few hours and have a look at what hilarity these people are cooking up.

x

Roll on Christmas

Good God I am shit at blogging. How long has it been?... can't be bothered to look so we will say a good few weeks. I don't know how Alex and the like do it.

I seem to say that I am extremely busy in every post I put up here, this is probably because I genuinely am, but now I am even more so than ever.

I am now volunteering two days a week at WaiYin which is an organisation that provides a community for Chinese immigrants, specifically women and children. I am teaching English to a group of giggly girls on Wednesdays for an hour and tutor a kid with 'learning difficulties' on Saturdays, also for an hour. I have also just landed my first payed teaching job, teaching a girl from a Malaysian family a couple of hours a week. I met the family for the first time yesterday and they were having a domestic whilst interviewing me, multi-tasking ftw! So far as I can tell the argument was over gravy... no joke.

I am also falling behind in my languages, mostly Catalan and Chinese, my brain just feels like it can't take in any more vocabulary. I'm also not sure if I am being lazy or not, putting in enough work... I guess my grades will soon tell.

Under this stress I have kinda started smoking socially again, don't jump down my throat about it, I know it silly and shitty, I just need to relax somehow. I haven't had a proper night out in about a month. I haven't been to the gym regularly for a couple of weeks now either, is this a slippery slope?

I am just desperate for a holiday of some kind (he says just weeks after coming back from America). I just want to not have to get up for anything for a while.

For the reason of my overloaded-ness I had to turn down working with Dennis on his new project for davisfleetwood, which would have been amazing but I just can't be dealing any more than I have to right now, I am struggling to keep rhyming afloat tbh.

I don't mean to be moany, I know for a fact other people on YouTube are having a much worse time of it than me right now but bluuuuuuuurgh!

In other news I went to see a stage production of one of my favourite Chinese novels, Monkey: Journey to the West, which involved a collaboration with a Chinese theatre troop and the guys behind the Gorillaz. It was awesome, but something was missing from the actual show, I had such high hopes for it and it just seemed to lack... something. The x-factor? lolz

I am also hoping to go and see La Clique with Paul at some point before Christmas which should be fun. It's a variety show with women doing amazing things with their sexual organs, strip dances and people rolling around in baths, amongst other things. If we go it should be awesome.

Roll on Christmas.

Jaz
x

Collab Channel Whore

I was on VlogRamen yesterday, and after being on 5AGirls on Monday and once standing in for Alex on 5AGuys I feel I can safely be labeled as a YouTube Collab Channel Whore.

Here is the VlogRamen video, purely because this page is just text at the moment and needs to be broken up with something:



In other news I am getting better with my jet-lag/ weird-sleeping-pattern-that-isn't-even-Seattle-time-any-more. But only in the fact that I am waking up at 3.30 in the morning rather than 1.

I am volunteering today and going to see Quantum of Solace, w00ts will be had.

Standard Blog

Havn't just blogged in a while/ ever so here I go.

I got mentioned in Charlie's video that he posted last night and got an extra wave of about 100 subscribers and on top of the 100-odd that I got off 5AGirls I have gone up a fair bit in the last week by doing... well nothing.

Aside from shaving off my hair.

Speaking of which people seem to like. My boss at Fuse FM today just stared at me for about 10 seconds looking all confused and just said, "Jazza?" He then went on to say I actually looked like a human being now, which was nice of him. I just wish people had told me I didn't look human before I had cut it off and then I could have made the changes earlier.
I think I'm going to keep it short now, or at least for the forseable future. I think it looks good.

I am meant to be the flavour packet of the week on VlogRamen today. I am having issues with my computer, as per usual, so I may have to film and edit it on one of my frieds lesser-quality cameras but regardless something will be on that channel before the day is out. I am meant to talk about martial arts... confused as to how I am going to work with that.

The computer issue is also why I havn't posted on rhyming for a while. I got a virus, had to have the computer wiped and now have a laptop that has none of the necessairy programs that I need for editing, socialising, etc.

I have such a hard life.

Speaking of a hard life I meet this kid that I am meant to be teaching for the first time tomorrow. very excited. I am volunteering at Wai Yin which is an organisation that helps out with the Chinese-English community in Manchester. I am on the youth project and because I have an English teaching qualification I have been asked to so some tutorials with this kid called Ken. He has 'learning difficulties' and has been through two tutors already so I hope I will do OK. What kind of difficulties I don't know yet, which is kinda annoying, but I get to look at his file half an hour before I meet him tomorrow. Would have liked more time but hey ho.

Which reminds me, I have to write him a test to find out his level of English... poop!

In other news I am trying to get in touch with the people who make Sexy Beijing to see if they do work experience. I would want to do it next summer before I start my official year abroad in China in September and love their work. I just hope they do internships... *crosses fingers*

I think that is all I need to be talking about right now.

Video will be up asap, I promis you big time!

*love&hugs*
Jaz
x

11/11

I am home! I have missed it, my little island called Britain. No matter how much an awesome time I had (which I did) I did miss it so - rain and all.

America is a lovely place, a bit weird but everyone I met was nice and genuine and made me feel happy and wanted, especially Kristina and all her flat mates, I will miss you all.

I will say that the language barrier was a problem. When I had my lay over in Amsterdam I genuinely felt more understood speaking to the Dutch compared with America where a cookie is a biscuit, a biscuit is a scone and scones don't exist.

I wanted to tell a little story that is completely unrelated though.

When I arrived in Manchester it was reaching 11 o'clock. Now, today was the eleventh of the eleventh and this day, every year, in the UK at least, there is a two minute silence to commemorate the people who layed down their lives for their country and people and their freedom in wars throughout history. So for two minutes every year the whole country grinds to a halt, women, children, men of all shapes, sizes and colours in a breif moment of unity. And it makes me so proud to be part of the human race.
The respect, the humility that is expressed with this anual ritual honestly blows me away every time and I am proud to be a part of it.
It feels kinda silly to say I am proud to be part of a two minute silence, but I am, ok! So there! *sticks out tongue*

I'm not sure how many other nations do this, I am pretty sure Japan don't because there was a Japanese woman at the airport wandering around with her trolley looking very confused as all the people stood still and silent. It made me chuckle.

There wasn't much point to this story, it's probably the jet-leg making me all sentimental.

Videos will come soon.

Oh and btw, got my hair cut, see it here.

I am also reading Barack's book 'The Audacity of Hope'. I like his writing style. He uses a lot of comas, like me! ^_^

Americaland

So, I'm in America, which is lovely.

Kristina and her flat mates have really made me feel at home and part of the 'family'. Me and Sam have banter, it's all good.

While I am here there are many things that I will hopefully be doing as well as accompanying Kristina to her larger lectures where I can blend in and pretending to be an authentic University of WA student. (I get a kick out of blending in where I don't belong, as long as I don't open my mouth I feel like I'm an impostor-ninja).

Tonight is Halloween and I have heard the Americans love this holiday. I have already seen a few interesting costumes around the University campus (where I am now) including Minnie Mouse and Tinky Winkey. We are meant to be doing costume shopping later today and then onto some party/ gathering style things later where my part piece will probably be saying Tofu (which, when I say it, apparently sounds like 'Thai Food').

Talking of shopping I am scared I havn't brought enough currency with me. I brought $200 but have already spend $30 in a day... I honestly don't know how. So this leaves me to survive on $17-ish a day... which could be interesting.

Another worry is that we are going to Canada tomorrow to hang out with Molly (of meme fame) and with currency change what the hell am I gonna use? I need to find out how much I will be charged for using an ATM when I am here, because It will be close to inevitable I fear. (hehe, that rhymes)

There are many other things that I will be doing but I don't want to spoil the surprise... also, I can't really remember right now.

I am also trying to do a little project with video here, getting at least a few seconds of clips each day and then editing them together in a Johnny Durham style thing. We will see how that pans out.

Untill then
Peace
*less than three*

Brand

I haven't posted in a while, on here or on the Tube, and for that I am sorry but I have been very busy and struggling with computer issues. And now I am going on holiday, but at some point in the ever nearing future things will go back to normal, I promise.

I want to talk about this drama with Russel Brand that is captivating Britain at the moment. You international readers will probably not understand this, but I will try to explain.

Two of the biggest presenting personalities in the UK are Russel Brand and Jonathan Ross. Both have incredibly successful and popular television and radio shows working with the BBC. Now, over a week ago now Brand had Ross on as a guest on his show. During said show an interview was scheduled with an actor, for some reason he didn't pick up and in Brand's usual way he decided to make a joke of it. He proceeded to make up songs and crack jokes on said actor's answer machine, the controversial one including the fact that he had slept with the actor's granddaughter.

The press have finally gotten hold of this and blown this up into the largest scandal since the BBC asked the Queen to remove her crown. Even after apologising profusely Brand has now quit his radio show and both are not being broadcast on either television or radio. And all of this a whole week after the interview took place; the papers didn't start talking about it till the Sunday just gone.

Now, I am not ashamed to say that I am a huge fan of Brand's work, he is crude and overstepped the line sometimes, but he is a comedian and he himself has said that he only wants to make people laugh. He is also almost universally liked throughout my age-group and a role model for many in my generation. The fact is, none of the usual listeners complained about the messages. We understand the take and humour of the show and know that Brand can sometimes overstep the mark. But now millions of new people have been involved, saying that he is a disgrace to the BBC and Britain that he shouldn't have even had a show in the first place (he doesn't any more, these people should be happy). People who do not understand that Brand has a crude style and the fact that the subject matter varies very little from show to show.

Brand and Ross have apologised, and I agree they should have lied low for a while but I think it is disgusting that Brand has been put in a position where he has felt he has had to quit. The matter of being insulted is between Andrew Sachs (the actor for whom the messages were left) and the show. In my opinion the views of all these people people who do not listen to Brand regularly is void.

I must say I am also very disappointed with Brand. Despite this huge scandal that has been blown up there was no need for him to quit. You win some you loose some, and yes he has lost many over this but he is going to hugely disappoint millions of fans. He has branded (no pun intended) himself as anti-society and a maverick. But the way he has handled this has to be honest let me down and shows he obviously didn't believe in his work as a whole. We all have bad shows Brand, I myself have made bad videos and mistakes on YouTube, you just have to brush yourself off, apologise and admit your mistake, and refuse to give in at what you believe in. Belief in himself was not something I expected Russell Brand to lack.

This is long.

You will probably see me on various other channels in the next week or so. So keep an eye out.

I am in the airport by the way, about to get on my plane to Seattle.

*love&hugs*

Jaz

poopy

For those of you who would like to know:

1) I am going to Seattle in... 7 days. This means that I have to do as much of the work I would origionally be doing in the holiday week of 3rd - 9th Nov. before the 30th Oct. I have one huge essay (3000words) on the demise of footbinding to do (I have done 99% of the necessairy reading and planned the introduction, background and placing it in a cultural and historical context... that's about 1/6 of the way through). As well as a 300 character Chinese essay due on Tuesday.

2) My computer is quite frankly being a dick-head. It runs on the two forms of 'Safe Mode' but not on the 'Normal' windows option. If I try to run it normally it either freezes when I get to the desktop or doesn't get to the desktop at all. I have tried resetting to a previous date, restarting several times etc etc. I have spoken to a friend and aparently it has something to do with it being Windows Vista, which this lap top came with, so downgrading back to XP is not an option.

frustrated.

I am just very stressed right now. many things are going wrong all at once. At this rate I will be turned away at customes when I get to the US.
*touch wood*

I have the blinkers on and am working hard, hence not alot o YouTube right now although there are many stories I would like to cover and discuss with you guys. Oh well.

I hope you all understand.

I'm gonna go eat something and do a bit of work before going to bed.

byebye

Jaz

Edit:
3) I also have a bolt (as in nuts &) of a spot (as in pimple) on my neck that is really effin painful.

... like I said...

poopy.

why we are all going bust

MyBoxxCollective is back on and this is my first contribution to the project for a while:



I am proper proud of this, took alot of research and many phone calls to my dad (who loves this sort of thing) making sure I got it right.

Please check out the MyBoxx YouTube and the Blog. It's a really interesting and exciting project that I am doing with Laurbubble, NSG and BaryAldridge.

Peace

An Interview

A lovely girl called Kayleigh asked me to do a written interview for her for a project she was doing and I wanted to put it up here, so here it is... I warn you, it's quite long:

1. What made you begin to incorporate politics into your blogs?

This is genuinely the first time I have actively thought about why I started, so thank you.

To be honest I kinda stumbled into politics. In the new year of 2008, when I had been on YouTube for about 6 months, I had done a couple of vlogs centred around education and exams (on which subjects I have strong opinions) and had also started reading the paper regularly a couple of months previously. I then did a couple of videos where I discussed articles in the paper that I thought were interesting, people seemed to enjoy them and so I began to do them regularly (I think I started doing two a week, which in retrospect was very ambitious, I now try to do one a week).

When I started with politics I had wanted to take the channel in a new direction anyway. I had grown restless being just another vlogger that occasionally did comedy skits (that to be honest weren’t very good). I didn’t feel like I got a lot back from it. I mean, I got feedback, but it wasn’t very constructive. I would receive comments saying either “You’re awesome” or “Shut Up!” Now I have this kind of discussion thing going I get to chat and debate with my viewers and they always have interesting things to say. I get to learn new things and see things from other people’s perspectives. I really get a kick when people message me saying that I have sparked a new found interest in current events and politics and have made them care about the world around them. That’s nice, probably the reason I am still doing this over a year on.

2. Do you select the stories you discuss based on your own political views, or on what you see as an important story to a wider audience?

At the beginning it was definitely centred around what I was interested in, mainly the UK education system and some science stories. I have now branched out. I’ve covered Tibet, the Olympics, sex, immigration, patriotism. Now a days I definitely pick my stories based on what I think will stimulate a good discussion in terms of getting feedback from a lot of different viewpoints. For example my last “Selling your Virginity” story. I had been waiting to talk about that because I knew there would be huge spectrum of opinions. I also deliberately try not to do too many discussions based around the same topic around the same time. So if I have covered education for the past two videos I will deliberately choose a new fresher topic. I am very conscious I have an audience, they are why I do this.

3. Do you feel that the way that you conduct news style vlogs differs in any way from the way you do "ordinary" vlogs?

There is definitely a huge difference. For one my political vlogs are scripted, whereas with a normal vlog I will just have some bullet points I want to talk about or sometimes I even just switch the camera on and blab, although I haven’t done that in a while. My political vlogs are also much shorter and snappier in terms of editing. It is very normal for my normal vlogs to hit the ten minute mark with only a couple of cuts where most of my news ones rarely pass 3 minutes and are heavily edited. In the news vlogs I also try to have a consistent background, where the regular ones I will quite often sit on the floor or in my bed, they are much more relaxed.



4. How does your news-telling differ between your written and video blogs?

Not a lot, I have often thought that the few political blogs I have written could easily just be the scripts to a video. This is just how I write though. I have never excelled with writing, I have always been much more of a verbal person, hence why I had a vlog on YouTube way before I started writing on a blog.

5. How does your audience react to your news blogs?

I ask for their opinions on the story and generally they will happily give them. Without my viewers the current format I have on my channel would have little point as the interesting stuff happens in the comments with people debating with me and between them-selves. I like to think they watch me because they enjoy talking about the stuff I bring to the table. In short, I do hope they enjoy them.

6. Do you think that blogging is a good way to deliver stories regarding current affairs? That is do you think people are more likely to read your blog and believe what you say because you are 'just like them'?

I certainly don’t think it is or should be the only way for people to get their information on the world. In a 3 minute video I can come nowhere near to the accuracy and quality of content as say, BBC News. I definitely believe there is a market for it though in terms of the fact that, yes, I am not just some drone reading off an auto cue (although it is scripted they are my own words, and I am much more casual) and that I offer up my opinions. So yes I do think people like watching me because they can relate to me better than your average anchor. I think because they have a dialogue with me they are more likely to value my opinion more than some guy in a suite on the TV. I also have the advantage of having a dialogue and instant feedback with my viewers, which people like Sky News and BBCNews couldn’t even dream of at the moment. Not that I am trying to compare myself to media moguls like BSkyB and the BBC. ;)

7. Do you use any blogs to get information on current affairs?

Yes but I do tend to watch and read them more for the way they are presented then the content. I still consider the daily paper and Radio 4 my main sources of current affairs. Although I always enjoy seeing what people like gnooze, the resident and politico have to say about what is happening in the world. A site I do use to get stories though is Digg.com, as well as of course the BBC website and any links my subscribers send me.

8. What are your feeling on YouTube creating a News & Politics genre for videos? DO you feel that the increase of news blogs has made this happen?

I certainly don’t think YouTube would have created the genre unless there was a demand for it. And the political content on YouTube is huge at the moment, from Obama Girl to Politico. And especially in the face of the US general elections. Internet video has played a huge roll in the election and I am really excited to see how that will continue in the future. This media provides a two way dialogue that has been missing from politics and any politician would be silly not to use this to his advantage. I mean, just look at Obama to see the results.

Playing the Game

Today I had my first meeting with my disability aid counsellor (I'm not sure if that is his official title, but we will stick with this for the moment). No need to worry, I am not mentally challenged or missing a limb, I am just dyslexic.
We were discussing an aspect of education I particularly despise... apart from spelling, which is essay writing.

I was explaining the fact that, in general, when I get essays back I seem to receive the same comments which go along the lines of;

"Really good points Jazza but this isn't how an essay is meant to be written."

I struggle to grasp the 'correct' language needed to write an academic essay, I will write an essay in a very similar style to how I write this blog. It is chatty, informal. The points are there, it has structure and a valid drive, I am just not restricting myself to the formula that will create 100 identical essays on the Spanish Civil War (for example).
But apparently in the academic world they don't want essays with a chatty style. What can I do? I write it how I would speak it, that is how my brain works.

I told my counsellor (his name is Andrew) how I thought this was unfair, ridiculous and that I couldn't understand how I am going to grow as an 'academic' (I can't even type that with a straight face) if I am going to be shackled to being the exact same as everyone else for foreseeable future of this degree.

He then told me this:

"You've got to play their game. After you graduate you can do what the hell you want. But for the mean time, just play the game."

This has not sat well with me.

I am very much my father's son when it comes to authority in that unless it makes sense I cannot simply sit there and pretend everything is peachy. When I was in the navy it was different, there are rules and a status quo in that kind of environment to stop people getting hurt and so that decisions get made (I am not saying they are always the correct decision but that is another story).

I cannot stand, however, that I am going to have to conform to a ridiculous guideline that does nothing but restrict me in the work I produce for the next 3 years. These are MY points that I am trying to put across and argue. Surely MY style is the best way to accomplish this, not a technique that every sodding person has to live by.

But, that said, what the hell CAN I do?

I need this degree...

Do I need this degree?

...

Billericay Dickie

For those of you who don't know I am from the beautiful county of Essex, if you who don't know where that is; I am afraid we can no longer be friends.

Around the centre of the bottom of my wondrous home county is a quaint town called Billericay. This is where I have resided all my life. I would like to pretend that It is nice there... but it isn't... it's full of old people, but it does have a lovely Chinese Restaurant where I have spent many a birthday called Yau's by the train station, if you're ever near there pop in there and order the Peking Duck.

However I digress.

I was told by my land lady when I was in Barcelona that there was a song about my beloved home town called 'Billericay Dickie' and I was shocked that I have never heard of it. I have only just now listened to the track and I feel it demonstrates an accurate depiction of Billericay and Essex as a whole... be it an Essex of the late 70's but no matter!

Listen, this is what the culture of Essex sounds like:

The Video Rupublic

I just got a PM on youtube with this video attched to it, It contains snippets from loads of people on YouTube, including me, Alex, Charlie, Katrina, Molly, NSG (if you look closely) and loads of others.




Maybe I am suceptible to this kind of stuff but with everything that is happening at the moment, with the Mystery Packages, this 'Video Republic' thing and other ideas that people have approached me about but it feels like people have finally caught onto us, have finally recognised that we have something here, not just on YouTube but as a whole generation. I dunno, I just think this is a really exciting time to be involved in this community.

Stuff is happening people!

Naive?

The Hair and Other Things

I can't sleep so blogging is what I will do.

Ok, just so you know I probably won't be cutting my hair on Friday. I have a few job interviews coming up in the next week or so and I don't want to look like a skin head as a first impression. However hair will be shaved off, but roughly one month from now when I am Seattle with the lovely Kristina. She will be doing the cutting and the video will be uploaded to fiveawesomegirls. So we still have a good month of hair left and more time to promote and to raise more money. I havn't spoken to the other guys about this yet (ie Alex and Charlie) but I hope it is ok and they will understand.

There will be a video uploaded to RWO on Friday explaining all this. I hope people won't think I am a cop out, to be fair I am still going to do it.

I uploaded a video earlier this evening about the trip to Poole with the RNLI and other YouTubers and then realised I didn't explain the situation (ie the mystery packages, who the eff the RNLI are etc) so I had to add in an annotation and explain myself in the side bar. I hate annotations.

Most people in the comments so far seem to be more preocupied about my hair coming off, so muh.

Here is the video in question:



Regardless I really like how this video turned out, some of my better editing skills coming through... didn't even know I had any so yay for me.

I have also just now finished a collab I have been working on for over a month and a half with the gnooze, davisfleetwood and the resident. I am probably going to upload this to RWO on Sunday, but I want to get their approval first so it may be later.

No videos for ages then I decide to make 3 in one week. Overcompensation? I think I need to give myself a rota again.

*love&hugs*
Jaz

I'm worried

I'm worried I have lost my chance to get the third series of my radio show.

I'm worried I have let my Chinese slip far too much over the summer.

I'm worried I am letting YouTube slip (nearly three weeks without a video is kinda hard core).

I'm worried this teaching English malarkey is going to fall flat on it's face.

I'm worried I'm not going to be able to focus enough this year to get any work done.

I'm worried about my group of friends and the cohesiveness there of.

I'm worried I'm not getting involved enough in extra stuff at Uni.

I'm worried I'm worrying too much about this whole thing.

For some reason the second year is so much harder than the first.

Quit whining Jazza, be a man.

I promis I will not post on here again untill I am up beat and loving life.

- Jaz

Real Life

I am scared that I am taking on too much stuff this year. What with teaching and learning three language at once and other things that I don't think I can tell you about as of yet.

In other news I really want to go to Charlie's for his birthday and shave my hair off but am scared I can't cuz I have lectures the next day and I am poor.

At least the fangirls will be happy that the mop won't get the chop.

oh, that rhymes ^_^

This video is cute:



I wish I could focus on stuff.

*luv&hugz*

Jaz

Papering over the Proverbial Cracks

This blog was intended for MyBoxx but the account doesn't seem to exist any more... so I am posting it here:

Over the past week the Labour Party has put on a remarkable show of cohesion, especially seeing as it was not so long ago that the papers were showing polls in the most popular MP to take over from Good-old-Gordon (the run away leader in that particular survey was the over-smiley David Miliband with something like 42%)

However, now all the paid for speeches, fringe meetings and free lunches have been inhaled by the over pampered journalists and politicians, we all love Gordon again because he acted on HBOS and wants more poor families to have Internet access. And I must say; my love/ hate relationship with him is warming yet again... What can I say? I am very susceptible to spin.

Although I genuinely believe Mr Brown is the right person to be leading the country (at least at the moment, ask me again tomorrow) what I fear we have seen here is a papering over of the cracks of dis-contempt in Labour and one big 'We are all fine' smile for the conference that can only be compared to a dysfunctional family on the day of the family photograph.

The thing is, papering over the cracks doesn't last long, and I am doubtful that Labour will be able to survive the next 18 months before the forthcoming general election without at least one more wave of rebellion. We have of course already seen scandal one day after Gordon's speech with the resignation of one of his senior ministers, Ruth Kelly, apparently for personal reasons.

What I will say for the party is that they have countered the criticism, responded to crisis (HBOS) and scraped together what solidarity they could muster for the conference, unlike the Tories who seem to have just stuck their heads in the sand and waited for Gordon to fuck up, which he hasn't, so it will be interesting to see what ammunition David Cameron can come up with for the Conservative Party Conference on the 28th.

It ain't over 'till the Toff-Tories sing.

I bid you fare well.

Jazza.

Fresher(')s Week

OH GOOD GOD I HATE NOT BEING ABLE TO CONNECT TO THE INTERNET!!!

For those of you that don't know my laptop is off being repaired because I sat on it when I was in Barcelona. Yes I am that much of a spaz.
It comes back tomorrow (hopefully) and I have been surviving by mooching off of computer clusters and the Internet capabilities of many of my lovely friends (thank you all).

This has meant no videos, no blogs, and only limited IM and Facebook which, as well as metaphorically kicking me in the balls in terms of my social life, has ruffled the feathers of many good friends I have online.

Don't worry - I haven't been avoiding you, technology just hates me.

So I have moved up to Uni(versity) in the sunny city of Manchester and am currently in Fresher's Week (is that meant to have an apostrophe? I should probably know seeing as I am meant to be teaching English next week, ARGH!) and quite honestly I had forgotten how much I hated it.

I am generally not a very good example of a stereotypical student in that I have a vague idea of what I want to do with my life, I don't drink and won't go anywhere near a cuppa-soup. In terms of going out I will be quite happy to go out dancing with a few mates, but for God's sake can we please do something other than shuffling around in a club like a pack of sweaty sardines every weekend? I would much rather spend a fiver going to the movies or cooking a meal or going to a gig (ok, a gig will more often than not be more than a fiver... as will a meal but you get my drift) than spending £20 for tickets to a club where they squirt watered down vodka at your face. I wear contact lenses! What if it gets in my eye?!

The point of it is that Fresher(')s week is the epitome of everything I can't stand about student life. Mob mentality, alcohol and so many fliers shoved in your face that you wonder how many rain forests have perished just so you can know about the wonders of '90's Roller Disco on Saturday nights at Pure!' on glossy paper.

Am I old, tired and grumpy?

Yes I am.

Jaz

emo-politics

I really want to start using this more, to be able to use this as a way to express myself etc. There are people like Alex who will update their blog automatically, it's second nature to them. For me this is still very forced, my first medium has always been video making and I guess in my head this feels like a backward step, but I think it is important for me to learn how to get my thoughts down on the proverbial paper, rather than just being able to speak about.

I am going to tell you a little story;

It is fair to say that my politics tends to land left of centre, which some people will argue means that I enjoy having money taken away from me and spent on things that will not benefit me in any way... and they are more or less right.

My family however is very right wing. They are pretty much all conservative, and with me as the only socialist at the table it makes for... let's say, 'heated' debate at family get-togethers. It will often start with my Grandad asking something along the lines of:

"So, Jazza. What do you think of so and so that has been happening in the political scene"

And as a subject matter that I see myself as very clued up on (current affairs) a comment like this is a life line for me in the midst of deep conversation about how many bogey they got on the new golf course in Chelmsford and their profound thoughts into the future of English cricket (snoooooooore). Understandably, I nearly always take the bait.

Now, those of you that watch me on YouTube will know I am quite good at putting my point across, in my videos and in real life conversation I am quite good at sounding knowledgeable about 'current affairs'.

However, when that moment comes, my Grandad throws me the barbed hook and I step up to the plate in an atmosphere of great drama akin to cross between Mastermind and Gladiator

I choke.

For some reason, when faced with my Grandfather's very strong opinions, all of a sudden my opinion is void. I feel like my view doesn't equate to anything and the best retort to one of his epic speeches, that will sometimes last more than ten minutes, will be something along the lines of:

"... I'm not sure I agree with you."

I am unable to articulate, as I would normally be able to in normal conversation. And the worst thing is I begin to question my own values and ethics when faced against him and his views...

I used to hate politics, and this is why:

I didn't believe that it was possible to define yourself as either right or left, Conservative or Labour, Republican or Democrat. And I thought I had finally found my niche in the centre left. But the more I have to try and prove my chosen position in the political spectrum, the more I find myself shooting blanks, and unable to back up my own views. I identify with the left I really do, but there are parts of the right that I completely empathise with as well.

Am I going to have to try and find my niche all over again? Or am I destined to just float around in politics, not sure which side of the fence to jump in to.

I think this entry could be defined as emo-politics.

Jaz

The most inspirational video I have ever seen

This woman is my hero



Check out Marta and The Gnooze crew at the following places:

gnooze.com

YouTube

Emotional Drainage

It's the last day of the teaching course,

emotionaly drained,

will tell you about it later.

The return to the real world is gonna be scary.

Keep Safe

Jaz

'The name Jazza refers to someone who's amazingly awesome'

I know these probably don't refer to me specificaly

but omg there are three entries for 'Jazza' on urban dictionary.

Has made my day

^_^

check out number one!

pretty accurate me thinks

:P

Sleeeeeeeeeep

I may have to seek out some help for this.

I knew this course was going to be intensive, but good god it has fucked with my sleeping pattern even more than the exam period did... and trust me that is really fucked.

I just had to turn down going out for a curry with the guys (when i say 'just' it was four or five hours ago) because I went to sleep at 7.45. This has really annoyed me, I was really looking forward to just chilling out in the park, with a curry, but no! My body clock ruins all.

Now 7.45 may have been an acceptable bed time when I was about... oh I don't know, 8?! But not very applicable to the lifestyle of a 19 year old. Especially one living in Spain when everything happens later. I am still adjusting to eating my lunch and about 2.30.

Aaaaaaaaaand, further more I have woken up about 4 hours earlier, fresh as a daisy and ready to take on the world... at midnight.
Kinda pointless even by Spanish standards.

So i am up now,
blogging
and trying the iconic remedy which is hot milk and honey

... am half way through the cup and I still feel like it's 8am.

in other news, I am in love with this man.



I miss my UK YouTubers
:(

Third

Right now I am so happy.

Great Britain... the team from the country where I am from, are third in the Olympics, third... behind China and the USA, which basically means we are first.

Oh
My
Fucking
God

I am so happy

This is insaine.

Just, bloody hell

christ

wksdbvfwiebvcfhq2ebi2qebic2ebi

... I like the olympics... If you can't tell.

YAY!

Now watch me orgasm:

Featured?!?!?!

I was featured on the Canada from page
wtf?!?!
YouTube friggin loves me at the moment!
this is just insane!
rhymingwithoranges is going international!


I'm just... this is silly
Yay for me!
:)

Reporter

rhymingwithoranges now joins the likes of the gnooze and davisfleetwood in the ranks of
REPORTER CHANNELS!!!

Yes I am now an official YouTube reporter...
that is all
bye bye now

;)

Spotlighted

Over the past few hours I have been very confused as to why a certain one of my videos, ´My Grade Inflated´has been getting so many views.
I mean, it isn´t particularly revolutionary and I only ask for my peeps´opinions, as I usually do.



It has recently passed 9,000 hits and is now easily one of my most viewed videos (my most having 50k from the YouTubeUK feature) and now I have found out why... I think.

My video has been ´spotlighted´which means it is at the top of some page somewhere where lots of people can see it. Which is lovely as I have just clawed my way back onto the 100 most subscribed list for the UK, woot!

But yeah, it´s kind like those premium honours, no one is really very clear as to what they mean or do, and now spotlighting has come along...

it all just very confusing.

If you have no idea what I am talking about then ignore me.

*hugs*

Jaz

Internet Cravings

One of the irritating things about where I am staying in Barcelona is the Internet.
The views and the architecture are amazing, the people are fun and entertaining, the weather is super hot and I think even I am starting to get a tan, which is practically unheard of.
But the internet is really shitty.
And for an internet addict like me this is not doing me wonders for the withdrawal.

I did say that I was going to take a break from YouTube and the rest of the internet as a whole whilst I was here in Barcelona on this course. However, I have subsequently made a video, started a blog and am in the process of teaching my land lady how to start up her own podcast.

I think I may have issues with following things through.

The flat I am staying in is lacking the human right that is Wi-Fi. Remember the days when the web was first installed into people’s homes, with dial up and everyone else in the vicinity not being able to go anywhere near the phone? Well this is my current reality.

And to be honest Barcelona and Spain as a whole seems to be quite behind in the Wi-Fi revolution. I was reading an article in an English language magazine that came free with my coffee today, showing the bars and restaurants that offer said service... there were five. In the whole of Barcelona there are five restaurants that offer Wi-Fi.

Let’s just say I’m not impressed.

It also isn’t doing wonders for my Olympics addiction. With my usual choice of newspaper rocketing in price from the equivalent of €1.20 to €3, I am kind of relying on the internet to get my regular doses of Olympic-Mania, I didn’t even realise Team GB had won their first gold until I read it on the back of a newspaper of a very red (he was verging on radiation) fat man from across the beach today.

Again, not impressed.

In consequence to this I am writing this in Word, am going to go into school early tomorrow to check emails, upload this and inform myself about everything in the way of the sporting news, and maybe get clued up on this whole Russia vs. Georgia shit that be going down.

Keep Safe,
Jaz

I, Sportsman

With my last video I put up I have had a couple of people disagree with me ('I usually agree with you... but' seems to be the phrase of the day) and to be honest I was expecting it, this being a very hot topic at the moment.






I love it when people disagree with me, I feel like it challenges me and really tests how strongly I feel about the view point I have demonstrated. But today one specific commenter said this:



"The Olympics are a competition for getting first place, and from my point of view, only promote spite and even hatred. That doesn't help countries work together, now does it? Sorry, but I have LOTS of problems with organized sports, the Olympics in particular."



And quite frankly I can't disagree more.



Not many people know this but I used to be quite a good swimmer in my day, I swam for my county and got quite high up the national rankings. When I was younger I used to dream and fantasise about going to the Olympics. Unfortunately, due to injury I was not able to continue with this aspect of my life to the level that I would have liked and had to leave the sport in terms of competition.



Although my swimming days are over I know for a fact the countless hours I spent in the water and on poolside for competitions have had a gargantuan impact on who I am today.



From my sport I learnt about hard work, discipline, fair play, friendship, winning and losing; all things that I believe are in short supply these days.



The truth is, yes, in any sport you are aiming for Gold, to be the best, and yes there is a lot of bad publicity with drug taking and gamesmanship, some sports more so than others. But the Olympics have always been a beacon for all that is positive in sport. Drug takers are banned, all are encouraged in the way of fair play and athletes who have devoted their whole lives to becoming the best they can be are justly rewarded.



The hosts of these games may carry with them controversy, but the Olympics provide us with a rare glimpse of people of all backgrounds united, under the banner that is sport. I may be cheesy, but God knows we need a bit of it now a days.



Keep Safe

Jaz

numero uno

Here I am, the blog of rhymingwithoranges

This started of kinda badly seeing as 'rhymingwithoranges' was already taken as a url, so this is 'rhymingwithorangesblog' etc etc etc

As you will all probably know I youtube, am learning to teach (which I still have to check myself every time I say), am studying at Manchester Uni (Chinese and Spanish), and my name is Jazza... yes it is my real name... don't ask me again.

This is going to be me distracting myself yet again from the more productive things in life and making it easier and easier for Google to keep tabs on me.

At this precise moment in time i am in Barcelona on this teaching course and am thoroughly enjoying it. The people here are great, my class buddies and those I am teaching. I am missing all the cool stuff happening in back in the rest of the world though. Have already missed two London youtube gatherings, one festival and countless nights out that I was planning on attending, but what you gonna do eh?

This will be updates whenever and I will talk about whatever... I seem quite moody in this blog so far, I assure you I am not, I am eating couscous (so good they named it twice) and drinking orange juice; I am quite content.

I would just like to link you afew things:

If you are interested in China like I am then check this show out:

http://www.youtube.com/sexybeijingtv

also I am involved in a little side project with Barry Aldridge, NSG and Laura(bubble) called MyBoxx Collective, it kinda interesting but is in baby steps mode at the moment. Still check it out:

http://www.myboxxcollective.blogspot.com/

*luv&hugz*

Jaz
;)